Friday, January 04, 2008

I've been catching up on all of my magazines this past week and read something two nights ago that blew my mind. American Gladiators is returning!?!?!?!

YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

For those of you who don't remember, who don't want to remember, or who are too young to know what I'm talking about, American Gladiators was a TV show that premiered in 1989 and ran several seasons. It featured these crazy "Gladiators" with hilarious names like Nitro and Turbo, and they would compete against contestants in challenges that usually involved wielding gigantic Styrofoam weapons and knocking each other off of various things. There was also a British version.

If you want a good laugh, check out this promo for the original season:

Two decades later, the revamped show premieres this Sunday on NBC at 9 EST/8 CST, and you can be sure that I will check it out. Come on, they now have peeps named Mayhem, Justice, Titan and Venom!!! How can you NOT check this show out, at least once?!?!

What is making me a little wary, however, is that it hosted by Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali. I hope their presence is minimal and that the main focus of the show remains people getting knocked off of stuff like back in the day.

OK, phew. I just checked out the show's web site and it does indeed appear that people are falling off of balance beams and getting hit down from walls and ropes and whatnot. And the arena in which they compete still looks cool. Alas, the weapons don't appear to be Styrofoam anymore--at least on the outside...

Another important facet of the show has remained the same--the hideous hairstyles and outfits of the Gladiators!